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American Morning

Interview With Nancy Pelosi

Aired January 21, 2004 - 09:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans are saying President Bush hit all the right notes in his State of the Union Address. Democrats are criticizing last night's speech as more polarizing White House rhetoric. It was an address in which the president laid out his election year vision for America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can go forward with confidence and resolve. Or we can turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat to us. We can press on with economic growth and reforms and education and Medicare or we turn back to old policies and old divisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: House minority leader Nancy Pelosi delivered the Democrat response to the president along with Senator Tom Daschle. And Representative Pelosi is with this morning from Capital Hill. Nice to see you, Congresswoman Pelosi. Thank you for being with us.

As we -- can you hear me? It looks like you're having a little trouble hearing me. Let us take a moment to just get the audio working.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Can hear it now.

O'BRIEN: Oh you can hear me? Wonderful. That's what we like to see that you can actually hear us as well.

You said yesterday in the Democratic response that the state of the union is strong. Where did you find fault in the president's speech last night?

PELOSI: Well the state of the union is strong because of the spirit of the American people. The president's speech, the State of the Union Address, should present an opportunity to find common ground, a vision of going into the future in way that addresses the concerns of the American people, our priorities.

I think the president is in denial when it comes to the fact that nine millions Americans are out of work and he's boasting job growth, 1,000 jobs in one month. It's sort of on a hoax when it comes to health care. This access to better health care is very important to the American people. And the president again was not presenting a initiative that would meet the challenge. When it comes to education, it's so sad that the 4 1/2 million children in America are being left behind because of the cuts the president is making in his own initiative.

(CROSSTALK)

PELOSI: The president seemed to be more in denial rather than on the move to do something positive.

O'BRIEN: OK, let's talk a little bit about what you that said in the Democratic response. You talked a little bit about the president's go it alone policies. And yet at the same time, some people would say well we heard earlier in the week from Ambassador Bremer that the United Nations is going to be brought in. The president pointed out in his speech that Libya was an example of things going right.

Do you think you can continue to sort of march that path of the president going it alone when the evidence is sort of shifting on that?

PELOSI: I don't think the evidence is shifting. The president did not build a true international coalition going into Iraq. He went into war on the basis of unproven assertions, without evidence. He used a doctrine, a dangerous doctrine, of preemptive strike, which is unprecedented in our history.

Whatever you think about going into Iraq, there was a better way to do it. The president went in with uncertainty, in terms of the basis for going in, with no plan for post war Iraq. And no real -- successful approach to bring us to a stable and secure Iraq in this area now of transition.

So, I think that the president owes the American people an accountability of this policy where 500 of our young people have died and thousands more are wounded. And an accounting of the resources that have been used and had not protected our young people adequately, and do not think -- when we do not think to be on a real path of stability in Iraq that will bring our troops home safely when they have completed their mission.

O'BRIEN: You criticize the president in an area where many people think he is actually very strong, national security and homeland security. You say that actually the Democrats have better ways to ensure better security. In a nutshell -- and I know you had spoke about a lot last night. But in a nutshell, how do the Democrats do it better?

PELOSI: Well your question came in and out but what I think you asked was how we can ensure our national security better. I believe that one way -- of course, we must recognize the clear and present danger to our security is the threat of terrorism.

As I said last night in my rebuttal and I said Democrats have been saying all along, we must invest in a better way in homeland security, whether it is inspection of 100 percent of containers and air cargo, which is now approximately 3 percent inspected.

Whether it's a higher standard securing chemical and nuclear plants in the United States, where the administration has settled for a very low standard. Whether we're talking about realtime communication among America's first responders, the technology is there, the resources have not been put there by the administration.

Or whether it's securing the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) material that is the enriched uranium and other materials for making weapons of mass destruction that we can secure. We know where it is, it takes just some money to do. But the administration has refused to do that.

So there are many areas where our investment in homeland security would be better in protecting the American people than just diminishing their freedoms by advocating a second PATRIOT Act.

O'BRIEN: Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi joining us this morning from Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Pelosi, thank you for being with us and dealing with the audio problems. We sure appreciate that, too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 21, 2004 - 09:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans are saying President Bush hit all the right notes in his State of the Union Address. Democrats are criticizing last night's speech as more polarizing White House rhetoric. It was an address in which the president laid out his election year vision for America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can go forward with confidence and resolve. Or we can turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat to us. We can press on with economic growth and reforms and education and Medicare or we turn back to old policies and old divisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: House minority leader Nancy Pelosi delivered the Democrat response to the president along with Senator Tom Daschle. And Representative Pelosi is with this morning from Capital Hill. Nice to see you, Congresswoman Pelosi. Thank you for being with us.

As we -- can you hear me? It looks like you're having a little trouble hearing me. Let us take a moment to just get the audio working.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Can hear it now.

O'BRIEN: Oh you can hear me? Wonderful. That's what we like to see that you can actually hear us as well.

You said yesterday in the Democratic response that the state of the union is strong. Where did you find fault in the president's speech last night?

PELOSI: Well the state of the union is strong because of the spirit of the American people. The president's speech, the State of the Union Address, should present an opportunity to find common ground, a vision of going into the future in way that addresses the concerns of the American people, our priorities.

I think the president is in denial when it comes to the fact that nine millions Americans are out of work and he's boasting job growth, 1,000 jobs in one month. It's sort of on a hoax when it comes to health care. This access to better health care is very important to the American people. And the president again was not presenting a initiative that would meet the challenge. When it comes to education, it's so sad that the 4 1/2 million children in America are being left behind because of the cuts the president is making in his own initiative.

(CROSSTALK)

PELOSI: The president seemed to be more in denial rather than on the move to do something positive.

O'BRIEN: OK, let's talk a little bit about what you that said in the Democratic response. You talked a little bit about the president's go it alone policies. And yet at the same time, some people would say well we heard earlier in the week from Ambassador Bremer that the United Nations is going to be brought in. The president pointed out in his speech that Libya was an example of things going right.

Do you think you can continue to sort of march that path of the president going it alone when the evidence is sort of shifting on that?

PELOSI: I don't think the evidence is shifting. The president did not build a true international coalition going into Iraq. He went into war on the basis of unproven assertions, without evidence. He used a doctrine, a dangerous doctrine, of preemptive strike, which is unprecedented in our history.

Whatever you think about going into Iraq, there was a better way to do it. The president went in with uncertainty, in terms of the basis for going in, with no plan for post war Iraq. And no real -- successful approach to bring us to a stable and secure Iraq in this area now of transition.

So, I think that the president owes the American people an accountability of this policy where 500 of our young people have died and thousands more are wounded. And an accounting of the resources that have been used and had not protected our young people adequately, and do not think -- when we do not think to be on a real path of stability in Iraq that will bring our troops home safely when they have completed their mission.

O'BRIEN: You criticize the president in an area where many people think he is actually very strong, national security and homeland security. You say that actually the Democrats have better ways to ensure better security. In a nutshell -- and I know you had spoke about a lot last night. But in a nutshell, how do the Democrats do it better?

PELOSI: Well your question came in and out but what I think you asked was how we can ensure our national security better. I believe that one way -- of course, we must recognize the clear and present danger to our security is the threat of terrorism.

As I said last night in my rebuttal and I said Democrats have been saying all along, we must invest in a better way in homeland security, whether it is inspection of 100 percent of containers and air cargo, which is now approximately 3 percent inspected.

Whether it's a higher standard securing chemical and nuclear plants in the United States, where the administration has settled for a very low standard. Whether we're talking about realtime communication among America's first responders, the technology is there, the resources have not been put there by the administration.

Or whether it's securing the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) material that is the enriched uranium and other materials for making weapons of mass destruction that we can secure. We know where it is, it takes just some money to do. But the administration has refused to do that.

So there are many areas where our investment in homeland security would be better in protecting the American people than just diminishing their freedoms by advocating a second PATRIOT Act.

O'BRIEN: Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi joining us this morning from Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Pelosi, thank you for being with us and dealing with the audio problems. We sure appreciate that, too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com